Madworld
SEGA’s Madworld owes a (gigantic) debt to Frank Miller’s Sin City, mixed with a few teaspoons of Sam Raimi, just a pinch of Snake Pliskin and a huge dollop of aged Smash TV. “Black and white and red all over.” That’s this world and the pencil like artwork is detailed and wonderful, if sometimes a little busy and distracting. Okay a lot distracting, but it is cool. The only other color you’ll see is red, blood red, lots and lots of bloody blood red stuff. The reason is simple. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a game about mayhem, ultra-violence, pitiless and tasteless combat and my god, it’s kinda fun!
Jack has a cigarette at all times and wears a long coat. Hunched over his shadowed face is lined and scarred, his eyes are empty. All this beneath a buzzcut.
He has a chainsaw for a right hand.
A collapsible one.
And he’s sent into the city– which a mega-corporation has turned into a prison island and, due to crowding — they have televised events where mutant or talented super-people act as “Bosses”. A pimp introduces the inventive environmental weaponry – he’s kind of a retrograde blacksploitation character I can’t decide if he’s an offensive racist stereotype – but he hilariously dies in each trap, usually sent there by a bondage dressed ninja lady with spikes for nipples, so there’s that. Traps vary from giant fans to a bus that has spikes on it. Special rewards if you spear enough guys on the spikes before it drives away.
Chainsaw combat (other weapons become available) is fun with the Wii controls. Shake to dislodge a foe, move hands apart to break their hold, jump and slam combos and, of course, dismemberment and you can even cut a bad guy crown to crotch, cutting him in half. Blood unrealistically slurps everywhere in colorful fountains. Other fun stuff include the ability to impale men in the head with signposts.
KID FACTOR
While I find this sort of violence juvenile and mostly harmless I’m not really comfortable with this much gore and kids under 12. Throw in the frequent profanity (it’s Jeff Probst and the guy who does Bender and Schnitzel) and remember that the game throws in a tiny bit of misogyny and just a touch of racism. It’s pure parody however and any offended adults need to find a better target.
I don’t really see any reason why teens should play this game. It’s brutal, violent, offensive, sardonic, and nasty, and it truly does encourage violence of the worst kind – giving out points for, say, impaling a thug on the ground spike so it goes through his buttocks and out the top of his head. Ow.
I argue that, for adults, this kind of creative mayhem might be a good thing to do after a terrible day at work. This’ll suck all the anger, hate and violence out of you. But it’s really too tasteless to recommend for teens.
Oh it also has some of the best motion control schemes on the Wii so far.
It’s bound to be too rude for most families. If you’re on the fence, don’t buy it.
16+
April 1st, 2009 at 3:31 am
This is one of those games I have an interest in trying, but I play the PC/Mac/PSP/DS/PDA/iPhone so much there is little room left so I barely ever touch the Wii … so I’ll request it on Goozex and give it a whirl and avoid ‘buyer’s remorse’. 🙂
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I agree with the statement about some of the best motion controls. Outside of Boom Blox, this is the most fun I’ve had with motion control. I feel like this game is a must play for Wii owners, but not a must own. I was blown away by the art style are truly pulled into the game’s atmosphere. Unfortunately, after 3 hours of gameplay my interest began to wane.
GamerDad did you tire of the gameplay? After making my way through the Asiatown stages, I felt like I was doing the same thing again and again. While I still enjoyed the gameplay, my thrills became fewer and fewer. Granted I haven’t finished the game, but my motivation for going back to it is much less than it was for the first few play sessions.
Paul
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
YES. The conrols are repetitive but awfully satisfying. Multiplayer is kinda blah. I think I’ll pick this one up every so often until it’s finished. Have you noticed that the quality artwork, sound, controls and voice acting (Bender and Probst) but no thought about the writing. The writing makes it a B game when it really could have been an A.